I watch, the mowers as they go
  Through the tall grass, a white-sleeved row;
  With even stroke their scythes they swing,
  In tune their merry whetstones ring;
  Behind the nimble youngsters run
  And toss the thick swaths in the sun;
  The cattle graze; while, warm and still,
  Slopes the broad pasture, basks the hill,
  And bright, when summer breezes break,
  The green wheat crinkles like a lake.

  The butterfly and humble-bee
  Come to the pleasant woods with me;
  Quickly before me runs the quail,
  The chickens skulk behind the rail,
  High up the lone wood-pigeon sits,
  And the woodpecker pecks and flits. 
  Sweet woodland music sinks and swells,
  The brooklet rings its tinkling bells,
  The swarming insects drone and hum,
  The partridge beats his throbbing drum. 
  The squirrel leaps among the boughs,
  And chatters in his leafy house. 
  The oriole flashes by; and, look! 
  Into the mirror of the brook,
  Where the vain blue-bird trims his coat,
  Two tiny feathers fall and float.

  As silently, as tenderly,
  The down of peace descends on me. 
  Oh, this is peace!  I have no need
  Of friend to talk, of book to read: 
  A dear Companion here abides;
  Close to my thrilling heart He hides;
  The holy silence is His Voice: 
  I lie and listen, and rejoice.

TOBACCO.

“Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all the panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher’s stones, a sovereign remedy to all diseases! a good vomit, I confess, a virtuous herb, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used.  But as it is commonly abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, ’tis a plague, a mischief, a violent purger of goods, lauds, health:  hellish, devilish, and damned tobacco, the ruin and overthrow of body and soul!”—­BURTON. Anatomy of Melancholy.

A delicate subject?  Very true; and one which must be handled as tenderly as biscuit de Sevres, or Venetian glass.  Whichever side of the question we may assume, as the most popular, or the most right, the feelings of so large and respectable a minority are to be consulted, that it behooves the critic or reviewer to move cautiously, and, imitating the actions of a certain feline household reformer, to show only the patte de velours.

The omniscient Burton seems to have reached the pith of the matter.  The two hostile sections of his proposition, though written so long since, would very well fit the smoker and the reformer of to-day.  That portion of the world which is enough advanced to advocate reforms is entirely divided against itself on the subject of Tobacco.  Immense interests, economical, social, and, as some conceive, moral, are arrayed on either side.  The reformers have hitherto had the better of it in point of argument, and have